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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on May 22, 2017 at 4:51pm

Good work, any idea what this is?

Hey All,

View 100% in a Photoshop program. This was sold me mew as live ink - it was identified as a print in under 3 seconds before I opened the sleeve. These matrix/printer dots are huge and dead flat.

Deceptive in some ways (perhaps a scan), not in others. In hand - unbeiveable. I know what it is not. But, what is this and how is it made? It is a paper pc/laser sort of print with moire pattern, card stock but thin, the "signature" is in a slightly different "black" than the image, and at seems at times to sit on and not in, but both share the same dot matrix on the same bias. Both signature and image have uniform sheen. In some areas, as in the "G" in the enlargement attached, the outer edges of the stroke are made of many smaller scratchy strokes that are not always even in alignment. It creates a "whiskery" or painterly look. For now I am calling it a "matrix facsimile/preprint". It is likely a very cheap process (Nowadays) that looks remotely decent from...a distance, or this would be on a glossy real photo.

It has been suggested that the above is a simple copy made from a genuine hand-signed signed photo. I believe, after looking at the enlargement above, that is impossible. Those scratchy painterly/feathery/wispy little lines visible at the top and bottom of each individual stroke appear "enhanced" - by someone or something. I believe, if this were a simple copy, that it would have to be a copy of an existing preprint. Has anyone seen this signature before? Or this type of preprint?

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Permalink Reply by Edward Lopez on May 22, 2017 at 8:58pm

No, I don't know what it is because I'm sort of a newbie to the inner world of real vs. non-real autographs. I'm not new to autographs per se because I've done my share of selling autographed items. But the items I've sold are in the lower echelon of value and the most I've sold for was $500 for a rare book from a collection of approx. 30 signed books by author Robert Nathan, and other collectibles. Never a doubt of any of them being fakes. I even wrote to Astronaut Frank Borman about his signature on Eastern Airlines stationery when he was its president and asked him if his signature was done with an Autopen and he nicely wrote back in longhand that as far as he knew he had never used an Autopen. See my ebay sold listing at: http://tinyurl.com/mxcdlgb

Since I got into examining my wife's autographed items, 3 on White House stationery by the Clintons, plus NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NJ ex-Gov. James E. McGreevey, with a high magnification eye loupe and discovered the idiosyncrasies of some Autopen signatures, I've learned a lot in a short time.

Your closeup photo, besides the give-away dots, also show edges that are not smooth as I show in the closeup of Joan Rivers' autograph. It's real.

A magnifying loupe has become my latest friend. But, of course, I can only talk about autographs in my possession not about in photos as no one shows true closeups in their ebay listings to see the Autopen's spikes.

Live signatures/autographs have smooth edges.

Attachments: No photo uploads here

• Andrew Cuomo 4.JPG, 729 KB
• Joan Rivers 3.JPG, 635 KB
• Bill Clinton 3.JPG, 580 KB

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